The Power of a Promise
by xXWhiteRoses13Xx
Summary: Battles were fought, lives were lost, promises were broken. But will a new mission stir up even more sadness than the first? A sequel to my first FanFic "Pinky Promise".
1. Chapter 1

**The Power of a Promise: Sequel to Pinky Promise**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Soul Eater or the characters in it! Hey readers! This is a sequel to my previous story "Pinky Promise" so if you're new here and haven't read that yet you might want to check it out before you read this one! Sorry this took me forever, I've been a little busy with school and other things like that. Plus, I had a MAJOR writer's block a week or two ago and absolutely NO IDEAS were coming to my head. -_- Well, hopefully that's over. Anyway, enjoy the story! :D**

"Come on Tsubaki! Hurry!" Maka yelled at her best friend. It was an early Tuesday morning and the sun was shining down on the two DWMA students as they ran up the academy's steps. The ash blonde was holding firmly to the weapon's wrist as she dragged the girl with the midnight-colored hair up each stair.

"Calm down Maka! It will be okay! We won't be late!" Tsubaki assured her as she stumbled over a bird that was perched on one of the steps, cleaning its wings. It took off into the bright blue sky as the seventeen-year-old managed to step over it in time and not crush it with her boot. Her amethyst eyes followed the bird as it soared higher and higher, eventually disappearing into the distance.

_SLAM!_

The doors to the academy were banged against the wall as the rushing meister opened them with slightly too much force, crushing the poor Spirit behind it, who only wanted to greet his daughter with a cheerful "good morning".

"I'm sorry Mr. Albarn! We're in a bit of a hurry!" Tsubaki shouted quickly as Maka completely ignored the sobbing Death Scythe and continued to dash through the halls of the school. Students blurred in their vision as they sprinted past them, but Tsubaki could catch their surprised looks as they zoomed by and couldn't help but giggle.

_BANG! _

Another door fallen victim to Maka's strength. Maka looked into the classroom hopefully and saw students were just taking their seats. They barely made it in time.

"Thank goodness," Maka said, putting a hand to her chest in relief. She heard the bell chime and walked to her seat, breathing heavily, and slumped down in her chair, exhausted from her panic. Tsubaki took the seat next to her, smiling at her worn-out partner. Maka closed her eyes to rest.

It's been a year since Soul and Black Star's death. Maka was now sixteen and Tsubaki was seventeen. They became partners and fight together quite well, Maka keeping her title as one of the best meisters at the DWMA. However, she still doesn't fight as well as she did with her previous weapon, and same for Tsubaki and her previous meister.

"Good morning you two," the son of Lord Death greeted them. Maka opened one eye to look at the young Shinigami. He grinned at her, the prominent white stripes in his hair still contrasted sharply with the rest of his black hair. Maka smiled back at him.

"Good morning Kid," the meister replied, closing her eye again afterwards. She appreciated Kid. He was the one who helped her and Tsubaki through Soul and Black Star's death the most. He comforted them, gave them advice, and even helped pay for their apartment's rent when they were running low on money one time.

"So, do you guys think you're going to be able to take on a tough mission soon?" Liz asked the pair. Maka's eyebrows furrowed. Even though the meister and weapon have almost entirely moved on from their former partners' passing, they still didn't risk taking any hard missions for fear of something going wrong. Maka thought about it for a minute, then let out a breathe, making her decision.

"Yeah, I think we're ready. Right Tsubaki?" Maka said, opening her eyes to look at the girl next to her. Tsubaki beamed and nodded her head.

"That's great! I found one I think you guys may be interested in. It doesn't sound too hard, since this is your first real mission in a while, so I figured you could take it slow at first to get used to it again," Kid said, handing Maka a slip of paper.

"'Mission: Locate Tool-P. The legendary Tool-P is missing and must be found as soon as possible,'" Maka read from the request. "Just finding something? That doesn't seem too hard at all. Okay, we can do that." Maka folded the piece of paper and put it in her jacket pocket.

"Good to hear. I'll go tell my father that you're taking the mission," Kid said as he got up from his seat and left the room with Liz and Patti, who was coloring a picture of something yellow before she left.

_Dear Soul,_

_ Today Tsubaki and I were almost late for class again. I know I should stop taking such long showers in the morning, but I can't seem to help it! I had to drag her into the school like I usually do. It kind of reminds me of when you and I were always late..._

_ Also, the last mission we went on was a success. I think I'm almost used to wielding Tsubaki now. It's a bit difficult since I've only ever used a scythe, but I'm getting the hang of it fairly quick. Which I know isn't very surprising. I do pick up new battle techniques fast! After all, you'd know. I did practice them on you._

_ Kid suggested that Tsubaki and I take on a real mission this time. We accepted, but to be honest...I'm a little scared. I'm still not sure I have the Enchanted Sword Mode mastered, and I still need work on my chain scythe attacks. I'm just worried I might screw up..._

_ Listen to me! The brave, daring meister that never gave into fear is scared! Well, I guess I'm not the same anymore. I mean, who would be after...you know. Anyway, I miss you._

_ Love, Maka._

Maka set down the pencil and folded the letter in thirds, putting it inside an envelope and carefully sealing it. She wrote his name on the front of the envelope, then turned her lamp off and exited the room. The pig-tailed girl grabbed her long black jacket and white gloves and put them on. She then buckled up her boots and left the apartment, yelling to Tsubaki that she was leaving before she closed the door.

The walk was peaceful. The sun was setting, the sky painted an orange-red. The birds were flying in front of pink clouds that resembled cotton candy. Maka gripped the letter tighter as she entered the grave yard. She didn't hesitate over which grave was his, for she had been here many times before to visit him. After walking past numbers of gravestones, Maka stopped at a certain one.

_**Soul "Eater" Evans **_it read. Maka gave a weak smile. She knew he never liked his last name, so she requested they put "Eater" on the stone as well to make it so he wouldn't have hated it as much. She set the note down on the grass in front of the stone, a tear escaping her eye and hitting the grass along with it. It's like he has turned into her diary, the way she writes these letters everyday she's not on a mission, and brings them to him. The letter from the previous day is usually gone by the time Maka brings the next one. She assumed they got swept up by the wind, that is the most logical answer, but some part of her hopes that when they disappear, he gets them somehow. She can imagine him smiling as he reads them, or laughing at certain ones, frowning at others. She didn't even realize she was crying so much until she felt her tears running down her neck.

"You did promise to be by my side forever, didn't you," she said, wiping the tears away. She then got down on the ground beside the grave, putting her cheek against the cold stone and running her fingers across the engraving of his name.

"I guess you did keep one promise, Soul."


	2. Chapter 2

**The Power of a Promise**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Soul Eater. **

Books.

That was the only thing Maka could see. She was surrounded by hundreds of them, stack after stack, just waiting to be opened by someone looking for the knowledge hidden behind the cover. To Maka, books were like a map. They gave you instructions on how to do things, and taught you step by step on how to achieve it. Other times, it gave a story woven in the history of the famous meisters and weapons of the past, giving clues on how she too could one day become that great, and maybe even find herself amongst the legendary.

But right now, the books were her enemy.

"Gah! Not a single thing in this one either!" the frustrated meister said as she tossed a book to the side, and reached up to grab another from the top of the nearest pile.

"Maka, you should be more careful with those books you know. If you scratch one, you might have to pay for it, and we both know we don't have enough money right now to be able to pay for all those," Tsubaki said while pointing to a large heap of books beside Maka that the emerald-eyed girl had thrown there, unhappy with the information they had provided her with. Maka didn't respond to the weapon, instead she continued to read the novel in her hands. Tsubaki sighed and retrieved another book from the top of the stack.

Maka and Tsubaki had come to the library in search of information on Tool-P. Maka almost always did research on the subject of the mission before she went on it, so she didn't go blindly into the mission with no idea of what they were dealing with. So far, no book in the library had held the information they needed. Tsubaki jumped at the sound of a book being slammed closed, reverting her eyes from the paragraph on how cat-witches have nine souls instead of the usual one soul.

"Tsubaki, I can't find anything about it anywhere. I think it's about time we head home for today," Maka said as she began to pick up the pile of discarded books. Tsubaki nodded and closed the novel in her hands, beginning to pick up the mountains of books too. As she was sliding a book into its place on a shelf, something caught her eye.

"Hey Maka, could you come here for a minute please?" Tsubaki called. The weapon reached for the book that had grabbed her attention, and turned it on its side to read the title on its spine.

"Yeah Tsubaki?" Maka said as she rounded the corner to where her partner stood in between the shelves of books. She noticed Tsubaki held something in her hands.

"Look at this," Tsuabki said, showing Maka the title of the book.

_Scientists and Their Inventions- Tools _it read. Maka perked up when she read the word "tools" and took the book from Tsubaki's hands.

"So, what do you think? Maybe Tool-P is in there?" Tsubaki asked in a hopeful voice.

"Maybe..." the distracted meister said as she scanned the table of contents for the thing they were searching for, running a finger down the page as she read them.

"There it is! How did we not find this book until now?!" Maka exclaimed, a huge smile spreading over her face. A _"shh!" _was heard as Tsubaki leaned over her meister's shoulder. The pig-tailed girl flipped through pages, words flashing by their eyes by the second, and stopped somewhere towards the last 50 pages or so.

"Tool-P," Maka began. "was an invention that was created for the purpose of reviving the dead. Not much information is available about this particular tool, but it is known nation-wide because of the scientist who invented it. Dr. Norman Whitley, a former weapon, was the inventor. Dr. Whitley's wife, also his meister, was killed in a car accident three years before creating the tool. Her death caused the doctor to go insane, and he devoted his life to building the tool in an attempt to find a way to bring back his loved one. However, before he was able to test the tool after it was finished, Dr. Whitley disappeared. His disappearance was reported by Dr. Whitley's only son. A six month investigation was issued to find him, but nothing was ever found."

That was it. A single page. Maka turned to the next page, in search of more, but another chapter about a different tool was on the next page. Even though she was disappointed, Maka decided to take the book home with her.

"Why did you bring the book? I thought you got everything you could out of it already," Tsubaki asked on the way home from the library.

"I don't really know, actually," Maka answered, glancing at the cover. Tsubaki, still puzzled, blinked and turned her head to look forward down the road. Maka continued to look at the book in her hands in front of her, questioning why she brought the book too, then shrugged and placed it in her bag.

"Tsubaki!" Maka shouted down the hall from her room.

"Tsubaki where are you!?" she continued to yell. She began to start screaming her weapon's name again, but stopped when she spotted her in the kitchen, stirring something in a pot on the stove. The smell of something savory filled her nose.

"Tsubaki I found something!" the meister said excitedly. Tsubaki's friendly smile grew across her lips as she walked over to where Maka stood with the book in her hands.

"Look! In the back of the book it gives all the scientists' addresses!" Maka said, her eyes brightening with every word she spoke.

"And see here? It's Dr. Whitley's address! We could go there and talk to his son about Tool-P and see if he knows any more about it," Maka explained, pointing to one of the addresses listed. Tsubaki nodded and congratulated her on her find, then went back to the kitchen to fetch a bowl of the ramen she had been cooking and gave it to Maka, receiving a delighted "thank you" in return.

Tsubaki was thrilled, knowing that their mission was soon to begin.


	3. Chapter 3

**The Power of a Promise**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Soul Eater.**

"It's so cold!" Liz complained as she, Kid, Patti, Tsubaki, and Maka all stepped off the plane.

"Why did he have to live all the way in Maine? It's freezing here!" the weapon continued to whine, pulling her gloves onto her shaking hands. Kid, Liz, and Patti were instructed by Lord Death to come on the mission with Maka and Tsubaki for support. Lord Death knew that this was their first real mission in a while, so he wanted to take extra precautions.

"Look sis! It's snowing now! Haha~!" Patti said, waving her arms around in an attempt to catch the falling white flakes. Liz just grimaced and tightened her hold around herself, shivering even more. Tsubaki giggled at Patti's behavior, for she now had her tongue sticking out, hoping for the snowflakes to drop onto it.

"According to the book, Dr. Whitley should live around that mountain over there," Maka said as she read the map, pointing to a large mountain to the right of the airport. It was a beautiful view. The thin layer of snow made everything seem angelic in a way, and the whole town seemed to glow with a soft sparkle. The air was crisp and clean, and the entire place seemed so calm.

"Alright, let's go," Kid said as he adjusted his scarf to a more "symmetrical way". Maka smiled and nodded, grabbing a hold of her suitcase handle and walking down the road that led to the mountain.

About a half an hour later, they were exhausted. The snow had gotten to about six inches high and it was becoming harder and harder to walk in it. The wind had begun to pick up as well, signaling a storm was coming. The meisters and weapons could barely see where they were going as they trudged their way along the side of the road, their hair whipping their faces and getting in their eyes. Liz's hat got blown away, and she was now shaking as if she'd seen a ghost, which is a lot for Liz because of her fear of scary things.

"I think we should find somewhere to stay overnight and try getting there tomorrow," Maka yelled to her teammates over the deafening wind. They all nodded and looked around for a place they could go. Maka tried to take out her map, but it was taken by the wind and flew off, disappearing behind them. Maka sighed and looked around for anywhere that was a possible rest stop. However, the snow was coming down too hard and the team could only see as far as about ten feet. The cold was causing her cheeks and nose to go numb, and she could feel her fingers were freezing through her gloves as well. They had to find someplace to go before they froze into icicles. Just then, Maka saw a pair of lights heading towards them.

"Guys, look," she said as she pointed at the lights that were coming closer. Everybody turned their heads to see what she was pointing at.

"Are those...headlights?" Kid asked. Everyone went silent for a moment as the lights grew nearer, becoming the front of a car. Then, the team started to frantically jump and wave their arms in the air, screaming at the car to stop. Sure enough, it did.

"What are you doing out here in this weather?" said a boy from the inside of the car as he opened his window a bit. He looked to be about their age.

"We were trying to get to somewhere in that mountain, then this blizzard came and we need someplace to stay for the night," Maka explained. The boy was quiet for a minute, staring at the group.

"Hop in, but put your stuff in the back," he said. Everybody's faces lit up, then they shuffled to the trunk of the vehicle, placing their suitcases inside. Then the group made their way into the car, Kid taking the passenger seat.

"So I'm guessing you guys aren't from around here. Almost everyone knew about this storm coming," the boy said as Tsubaki, Liz, Patti, and Maka were seated. It was a van, thankfully, so everyone had room to sit.

"Yeah, we're from Nevada," Kid replied. "We're students at the DWMA and we're here on a mission."

"That so? So, you must be meisters and weapons then?" the boy asked as he turned on his blinker and took a left.

"Yes. I'm a meister and those two right there are my weapons," Kid said, pointing to Liz and Patti, who waved and smiled in return.

"And I'm a meister and this girl right here is my weapon," Maka said as she put a hand on Tsubaki's shoulder. The boy nodded and turned into a driveway.

"Here we are," he said. The group looked out the windows to see where they were. A large house was in front of them, light blue with a black roof. They all exited the car and quickly retrieved their bags from the trunk, then hurried up to the front door where the boy stood. He unlocked the white door and swung it open, revealing what was inside.

As the boy turned the lights on, the meisters' and weapons' eyes widened. The rooms were big, with an open landscape and a warm atmosphere. The floors were hardwood, but had carpets in places with elegant designs on them. The walls were painted a beige sort of color and had expensive-looking paintings hung on them. The furniture was sleek and modern, with leather couches and chairs to the right, and a big dining table to the left. It looked like a house for a person with a fair amount of money.

"The rooms are upstairs. I'll show you to them," the boy said as he hung his coat up in the closet beside the door they had come in from. As they crossed the living room, Maka noticed a fireplace in the corner which looked like it hadn't been used in quite a while.

_"I wish that was lit right now..."_ Maka thought to herself as a shiver ran up her spine from the remaining cold left in her body.

After everyone had picked their rooms, they decided to thank the boy who had helped them. They all went downstairs and found the boy in the kitchen, setting the timer on the oven in front of him. He turned around and saw the group standing there, and he raised an eyebrow. Maka hadn't noticed because of his hat that he wore earlier, but his hair was a dark chestnut brown, and it matched the color of his eyes. A light sprinkling of freckles covered his lightly tanned skin over his nose.

"We just wanted to thank you for letting us stay here," Tsubaki said.

"Oh, well, it's not a problem miss..." the boy began, but couldn't finish, and the group realized they hadn't told the boy their names yet.

"Tsubaki Nakatsukasa," Tsubaki said. "And this is Maka Albarn, Liz and Patti Thompson, and Death the Kid." Tsubaki gestured to each person as she said their name. The boy shook hands with all of them.

"I'm Cormac. Cormac Whitley," he said. Maka's eyes widened.

"Did you say...Whitley?"


	4. Chapter 4

**The Power of a Promise**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Soul Eater. I'm sorry for taking so long to write this!**

"Yes, I'm Cormac Whitley," the boy who had taken in the group of meisters and weapons said. They wore shocked expressions on their faces.

"Is there something wrong? You're all just staring at me..." Cormac said, nervously shifting his stance. Maka blinked.

"Oh, no nothing's wrong! It's just, well, we came here in search of a person named 'Dr. Whitley'. Would you happen to be related by any chance?" the pig-tailed meister asked. Cormac slumped his shoulders and his expression turned to one of sadness. He sighed before he spoke.

"My father disappeared a year ago," he said, his voice low. "I haven't seen him since."

The meisters and weapons exchanged looks of confusion and pity.

"He didn't leave any sign as to where he might have gone?" Kid asked. Cormac shook his head.

"The only thing he left behind was a note in his laboratory. Come with me," Cormac said, gesturing for them to follow. He led them to a wooden door at the end of a hallway, which they hadn't seen when they had come into the house. It was hidden away from eyes which wouldn't have guessed it were there if they hadn't known it was there to begin with. Patti stared and laughed at the paintings of animals hung on the walls, and laughed especially loud when a painting of a giraffe caught her attention. Cormac reached in his pocket and dug around, taking out a silver key. He unlocked the door and opened it slowly, stepping aside to let his guests in first.

"The note is on the metal table in the middle of the room. It's the one folded in half," Cormac said as he closed the door behind him after the group had entered. Maka's eyes scanned the room. Coffee cups were strewn all over the floor and tables, crumpled papers filled the trash bin next to the door through which they had entered, which was overflowing and the balls of paper were surrounding the bin like a wall of its own, and the smell of old coffee and mold made her stomach flip. Maka grimaced, then looked at the table Cormac had mentioned. It was, to no surprise, covered in a blanket of papers, all of which had messy handwriting on them. She spotted the only paper that was folded in half.

"Can't you turn a light on? There's no windows in here and it's really creepy in the dark," Liz complained, holding on to Patti's arm.

"The light bulbs blew out a while ago and my father and I never bothered to change them. I apologize, but you can turn on that lamp on the desk behind you if you want," Cormac replied, pointing behind the shaking weapon. Liz smiled hopefully and pressed the "on" button on the lamp, only to have nothing happen. She pressed the "on" and "off" buttons many times before giving up and going back to cowering behind her sister.

"I found the note," Maka said as she picked up the folded paper. Everyone but Cormac surrounded her.

"Dear Cormac," Maka began. "I hope you find it. It was meant for your mother. I promise to return to you someday. Love, Father."

"I never knew what he meant by "it"," Cormac said as he played with a glass test tube filled with a yellowish substance, turning it from side to side.

"Then again, I never really understood anything he said," Cormac whispered as he set the tube back in its place, frustration and longing tinting his voice. Everyone was silent for a moment, sympathy on their faces.

"Hey, don't be sad. He promised to come back right? I'm sure he would keep a promise to his son, right Maka?," Tsubaki said, walking over to Cormac and placing a hand on his shoulder. He looked down at her and smiled.

"Right..." Maka said, an image of Soul flashing in her mind. A weak smile tugged at her lips at the thought of him. "I'm sure he'll keep that promise."

_"Help me..." A voice echoes in the darkness._

_"She has me...please...I need your help..." I turn around and see a man, hunched over on the ground. I walk over to him. All of a sudden I hear laughter, laughter that sounds all too familiar._

_"Rekka..." I whisper, looking to my left._

_"Rekka!" I scream, looking to my right. I look back at the man, but he's gone, replaced by another figure. He's bloody, motionless, his white hair covering his face._

_Soul._

_My eyes start to water, and I try to hold onto him, but when I touch him, my hands move right through his body as if he were a ghost. I shout out in anger. My tears fall into the black emptiness of the space I am in. I feel the same as I did that night. That night when Soul took his last breath. Helpless. Like there is nothing I can do to keep the person I love from slipping into death. I give up on trying to hold him. I collapse and curl into a ball, sobbing into my hands next to his corpse._

_"It's nice to see you again, Miss Albarn." That voice. That voice I hate so much. I open my wet eyes and take my hands away from my face. I look behind me. Orange, red, and yellow fills my vision. Fire. I panic. I try grabbing onto Soul once more, but fail again. Still, I stay with him. I stay with him as the blazing fire engulfs us. I scream the witch's name one last time into the flames._

_Then I wake up._

Maka lurches herself forward. Her breaths are coming out in short, quick huffs. She feels her forehead. It's hot, and her bed sheets are sticky from her sweat.

_**"A dream..."**_ Maka thought to herself. _**"It was just a dream."**_

Maka closed her eyes and remembered the image of Soul, bloodied and unmoving.

"A nightmare," she said.


	5. Chapter 5

**The Power of a Promise**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Soul Eater.**

"Ow! Patti you dropped a box on my foot!" Liz scolded her sister as she rubbed her sore toes.

"Oops! Sorry sis~!" Patti said sweetly, then picked up the box that had just squashed her sister's foot and skipped off. It was an early afternoon and Maka, Kid, Tsubaki, Patti, and Liz were all looking through Dr. Whitley's lab, searching for any clues to his whereabouts. So far, they had no luck.

"Patti, be careful with that!" Kid said. Patti had just picked up a long test tube filled halfway with a purplish liquid and was staring at it intently as she flipped the tube upside down and back upright again many times, watching the substance create small bubbles. No one knew what any of the fluids or materials did, so they had to be extra careful with how they handled them.

"Yeah, Kid's right Patti. Who knows what that stuff is? For all we know, it could be acid or could cause an explosion or evaporate in the air to create a gas that may expose us to some unknown disease or-" Maka was interrupted when Patti dropped the tube. Everyone gasped, then Kid dove for the glass tube. He caught it, causing everybody to let out a sigh of relief. But, as quickly as he had caught it, the tube slipped from his fingers and shattered on the floor, the liquid spreading over the surface. Nobody moved.

"Quick! Put your hands over your mouth so you don't breathe it in as fast!" Maka said to her friends. They did as they were told. They all stayed that way for a few minutes, unsure of what to do next.

"What are you guys doing?" Cormac said as he entered the laboratory, looking confused. Maka took one hand off her mouth and pointed to the fluid on the floor near Kid. Cormac walked over it and kneeled on the ground. He then proceeded to put a finger in the purple liquid and lick it. Everybody shouted at him in alarm.

"It's grape juice," Cormac said with a grimace on his face. "Really old grape juice."

The meisters and weapons removed their hands from their faces, feeling very stupid and embarrassed, except Patti that is, who just giggled and sauntered off to find something else to do.

"Anyway, I came in here to see how you were doing with the search," Cormac said, getting up off the floor.

"Not very good. We haven't...found..." Maka began, but her words grew softer. She put a hand to her forehead, suddenly becoming dizzy. The meister's vision was blurry as she fell to the ground. She heard muffled voices calling her name before she completely lost consciousness.

_"Work faster," a voice said._

_"I'm doing the b-best I c-can," another voice said, sounding scared._

_"I don't care! Work faster, imbecile!" the first voice yelled. I recognized the voice now. I opened my eyes and turned to face the direction the voices were coming from. Sure enough, there stood Witch Rekka. She was behind a man cowering in an old wooden chair, laboring on something on the desk in front of him. I took a step towards the man, feeling pity for him. He turned his head in my direction, and I realized that this was the man from my nightmare last night, the one pleading for help. In front of him was a metal box._

_"Did I tell you to stop working, bastard?" Rekka angrily said to the man, who then turned his gaze back on the object in front of him. I tried shouting at the witch, but nothing came out of my mouth. I screamed and screamed, only for my voice to not be heard._

"Maka! Maka wake up!" Kid shouted at the blacked-out girl. Maka slowly fluttered her eyes open.

"I...I'm fine," the meister said as she took Tsubaki's hand to help her up.

"You're fine?! What the hell just happened to you?!" Liz said. Maka rubbed her now pounding head.

"I don't really know. I guess I didn't sleep well last night and that affected me somehow..." the emerald-eyed girl said as she continued to massage her forehead. She could feel the headache growing weaker.

"I'll go get you some water," Cormac said, leaving the room. A minute or two later, Cormac returned with a glass cup. He handed Maka the drink and she took small sips. The headache was almost completely gone now.

"Look, I'm okay guys. Can we please just go back to searching?" Maka pleaded. Kid and the other weapons exchanged looks before nodding their heads. Maka smiled and gave the glass back to Cormac before returning to sift through the things in the laboratory.

"Oh, how interesting..." said a woman's voice from outside the Whitley residence, where nobody could hear.

"It seems we will meet again soon, Miss Albarn. I'm looking forward to it," she said before bursting into flames and disappearing into thin air.

"What do you guys say about some lunch?" Cormac offered the group. They all nodded their heads. Cormac left the basement and was about to enter the kitchen when he saw a bit of orange in the corner of his eye coming from outside. He opened the front door, a blast of cold hitting his face. He looked to the area he had seen the color, and in its place was a hole in the snow that reached to the grass underneath. The tips of the blades of grass were even burnt a bit.

"Not again..." Cormac said exasperatedly.

"How does this keep happening? It's been a whole freaking year since this started!"

"What's been happening?" Maka said as she peaked her head out of the doorway. Cormac jumped.

"Look. That's been happening," the boy said as he pointed to the burned part of his lawn. Maka's eyebrows furrowed.

"A whole year you said? Like, since your father disappeared?" Maka questioned. Cormac sighed and nodded, clearly fed up with the brown spots that will litter his yard once the snow melts.

_**"It's unlikely, but I wonder if it could be..."**_ Maka thought, a certain witch on her mind.

_**"No, I'm probably just being paranoid. There's no way," **_Maka assured herself.

"Hey, how about that lunch? I'm starving," the pig-tailed girl said with a smile. Cormac nodded and went to the kitchen, still slightly angry. Maka looked back at the burned spot and frowned before closing the door behind her.


End file.
